Eat, drink and beer merry
Beer and food can mean much more than a pint and a ploughman's. Phil Mellows reports.
The decline of Britain's heavy industries has naturally coincided with a decline in heavy beer drinking. Even two or three decades ago a brewer could rely on its volumes being buoyed up by after-work sessions in the pub or club at which groups of men would slake a thirst brought on by the heat of the mine or furnace by sinking pint after pint of a relatively weak ale before they went home for their tea.
If solids came into the equation at all it would be no more elaborate than a pickled egg or pork scratching.
Today, however, pub operators and brewers alike have to think hard about how they get people to drink beer. Core volume sales are still important but gains are only going to come through somehow adding value to the beer drinking occasion.
Fortunately, the consumer is in good shape to play ball. Wider social trends reveal that people are eager to explore fresh experiences and are open to new ideas - food and beer, for example.
Maybe it's not so radically new. The ploughman's lunch was invented in the 1970s with beer drinkers in mind, and what is a curry without lager?
The thinking now, though, is that the opportunity can, and must, be developed further. To a large extent wine has cornered the market. Even in pub-restaurants customers might have a beer in the bar before the meal and then, once they have sat down at a table, have a wine list thrust in front of them.
This is not to say people should be deterred from drinking wine, but what about the beer list? Can't they drink beer sitting down?
Some kinds of food go better with beer than with wine. Spicy and sweet dishes are notoriously difficult to match to a wine but can find a natural accompaniment among the rich variety of beers that are now available.
For diners who want to reduce their alcohol intake, at lunchtime say, a half pint of a five per cent ABV beer is surely better than two glasses of wine at 12 per cent ABV for about the same amount of liquid.
The problem is not one of flavour and the nature of beer but of image and presentation and the way the pub and its staff approach the matter.
Your Business and Pub Food have joined forces this issue to inspire you to exploit this opportunity and to give you the ideas on presentation, on matching and on recipes that can make the marriage of beer and food a happy one for your customers and your till.
From glassware to theatre - how to give beer an image makeover
Can beer become the new wine? First, it needs an image makeover. If Trinny and Susannah out of What Not To Wear got hold of beer they'd have a field day. The typical pint, like your feet, just does not look good on the dining table.
The brewers are working on it, however, and trying for size all kinds of new styles of presentation. It all fits in with a broad strategy for making sure beer gets the respect it deserves, and it is undoubtedly a good thing for anyone trying to promote beer with food.
"It's important that beer looks appealing when you're eating," says Daniel Thwaites marketing manager Rob Brown. "There's nothing worse than getting a badly presented pint of lager with a meal. Our research shows that customers want to enjoy the whole experience when they are in the pub, and that includes the beer."
"Glassware is very important," comments John Keeling, head brewer at Fuller's. "In many situations offering a beer to match a dish in a smaller, third-of-a-pint glass is a good idea - publicans could even offer it free as an incentive to try the beer and food together."
- Beer quality: The quality of the liquid should, in any case, be of paramount importance. A warm, flat, cloudy pint is not only unpleasant to drink, it's unpleasant to look at. On the other hand, a beer properly chilled, whether it's from the bottle or tap, crystal clear with the right kind of head, is itself appetising.
Glassware: The nonik glass in which draught beer is traditionally served does little to enhance the look of the drink. Lager brewers in particular have begun to move away from the squarish, practical shape to something taller and more elegant. And your glassware must be clean, of course.
Size: Size is important. Pints can look daunting on the dining table, and serving a premium beer in stemmed half-pint glasses can be a more attractive option.
Bottles: For bottled beers the size trend is in the opposite direction. The best-selling premium lagers and some ales are now available in bottles of up to 800ml specifically for sharing at the dining table and in shapes that mimic wine bottles. Interbrew has even introduced ice buckets for its wheat beer Hoegaarden.
Branding: Branded glasses are not only usually a more interesting design, they say something about the quality of the beer and complete the whole look of the drink.
Theatre: How you serve beer tells customers that you care about it - and them. People will have a higher appreciation of what they are drinking if barstaff pay attention to making sure the glass is clean, that it's appropriate to the beer, that it's poured correctly and presented to the customer brand name to the front. It shouldn't be frothing over either, but you can add the finishing touch with a drip mat or doily.
Badger Ales' brands are a recipe for success
Not so long ago the prevailing theory among marketers was that people are looking for less challenging flavours in their beer, contributing to the broad shift in consumption from ales to lagers.
In last couple of years, however, a counter theory has emerged - that there are growing numbers of people out there who want more to get their teeth into.
So while cask ale sales continue to decline overall, certain brewers are making strong progress with their brands - and significantly they tend to be players who are putting an extra effort into the beer and food opportunity.
Research by Dorset-based brewer Hall & Woodhouse has shown that new consumers are being attracted towards cask ale because of the wide repertoire of flavours and quality of taste.
It divides cask ale drinkers into three segments:
- traditionalists 79 per cent
- male developers 16 per cent
- women five per cent.
"These figures show the cask ale market still has a long way to go, but it is encouraging to see the increase in younger men and females entering the category," commented Rick Payne, marketing manager at brewing arm Badger Ales. "The increase in lighter cask ales can only help increase those figures further."
Rick argues that the people Badger call "modernist drinkers" enjoy a light refreshing ale and are often attracted to quirky images. Badger's own Fursty Ferret seasonal beer, described as a "golden brown ale with floral hop and toffee notes, spicy in character with zesty citrus notes", is seen as meeting the needs of this emerging market. Sales of the brand when it came in last spring certainly seemed to confirm that, and Fursty Ferret will be back this March.
This appeal to a broader market, especially to women, combined with the closer attention to a distinctive flavour, fits well with beer's aspirations to be an accompaniment to food.
Rick sees matching beer and food as a great way to encourage more people to drink beer and well as broadening the repertoire of the traditional ale drinker, and Hall & Woodhouse has matched beer with food for all sectors of the market from traditional English dishes to modern Europe
